Palmerton sweeps NL

BOB FORD/TIMES NEWS Palmerton's Jessica Pereira runs to a first place finish in the 100-meter dash during Tuesday's meet at Northern Lehigh. Pereira was clocked at 12.7.

By PATRICK MATSINKO pmatsinko@tnonline.com

With only a week left in the regular season, the Palmerton boys' and girls' track teams are showing no signs of slowing down.

The Bombers' picked up a sweep over Colonial League foe Northern Lehigh, with the boys claiming a 95-55 victory and the girls cruising to a 111-39 win.

The Palmerton boys' won nine individual events and were paced by John Snyder (shot put, discus) and Austin Shupp (110H, 300H). The Bombers' (7-2, 3-2) also won the 400 and 3200 relays.

Shupp was able to edge the Northern Lehigh's (1-6-2, 0-3-1) Caleb Johnson early on in the 110 high-hurdles, which was a matchup of two of the Colonial League's very best in the event. Johnson would have another chance at Shupp later in the meet, as the two faced off again in the 200. This time, Johnson came out on top, winning by almost a second. Johnson also won the high jump and 100.

The duel between Shupp and Johnson was something Palmerton coach Mike Gombert was looking forward to.

"Austin Shupp and Caleb Johnson, that was really a big showdown today in the 110s (hurdles) and they ran a great race and it was a great finish," said Gombert. "We were pretty much expecting that and we were hoping our kid came out on top and today he did."

Northern Lehigh did well to gain points in the intermediate and distance events, picking up wins from senior Darien Middaugh (400, 800) and Bryce Moser (3200). The win by Moser was something that Northern Lehigh coach Mike Lehtonen was pleasantly surprised with.

"He actually ran the two-mile for the first time today," Lehtonen said of Moser. "He doesn't do cross country in the fall, but he's building up his distance a little bit and he ran a nice time (10:48) today."

The time the Palmerton girls' were concerned with was that of the 1600 relay. The Lady Bombers' (8-1, 4-1) team of Jaclyn Wood, Morgan Mummey, Kyla Rodrigues and Jessica Pereira not only won the event, but set a school record in the process with a time of 4:12.8. The accomplishment is something Gombert takes quite a bit of pride in.

"This was kind of in the works," Gombert said of the record-setting time. "We only had a couple of opportunities left this season to break the school record and today we were able to do it.

"Whenever you can break a school record, especially a relay, it's satisfying. You have four girls together and they had a goal in mind; the school record was on the line and it makes it a little extra special when four kids can share in that glory."

Jess Debski (100H, 300H), Lauryn Solt (high jump, long jump) and Jessica Pereira (100, 200) all won multiple events for the Lady Bombers, who took 12 individual events and all three relays in the win.